Oddity Central

Oddity Central

Chinese City Tries to Create Artificial Lake Ends Up with Sahara-Like Desert Instead

Posted: 19 May 2014 03:06 AM PDT

Zhengzhou, the capital city of north-central China's Henan Province, is currently a sandy mess. Officials wanting to create an artificial lake on the outskirts of the city have botched things up so bad that it's turned into a sprawling desert instead. The sand is everywhere – about 10 meters high and covering an area as large as four football fields. Naturally, Zhengzhou's residents aren't pleased.

The idea was nice to begin with – the officials planned to make a beautiful lake on the outskirts of the city by tapping a natural water source called Dragon Lake and removing hundreds of thousands of tons of sand around it. Unfortunately, nature did not play along with the plan. The underground water source dried up and all the dug-up sand began to spread. It has now resulted in a large wasteland of parched earth in the area.

Zhengzhou-desert

In South Korea People Check into Prison to Reduce Stress

Posted: 19 May 2014 01:59 AM PDT

Prison would probably be the last place I’d think of checking into to relieve stress, but that’s exactly what hundreds of South Koreans are doing these days.'Prison Inside Me' is a stress-reduction center with a penal theme, located on the outskirts of Hongcheon, about 58 miles northeast of Seoul.

Prison Inside Me is the brainchild of 47-year-old Kwon Yong-seok, who was previously a lawyer. "I didn't know how to stop working back then," he said. "I felt like I was being swept away against my will, and it seemed I couldn't control my own life." That's when he decided to spend time behind bars. He asked his old acquaintance – a prison governor – if he could spend a week locked up in jail. Although he said it was for 'therapeutic reasons', his bizarre request was rejected.

So Kwon decided to take matters into his own hands, and began to make plans for his  prison-like spiritual center. It was ready in June last year, after a year of construction that cost about 2 billion won ($19 million). Kwon managed to cover the cost through loans and donations from friends and relatives. The facility, he said, was not built for profit.

Prison-Inside-Me

Costa Rican ‘Mole Man’ Spends 10 Years Digging Large Underground Home by Hand

Posted: 19 May 2014 12:47 AM PDT

Manuel Barrantes, fondly known as ‘El Hombre Topo’ or 'The Mole Man', has spent the last 10 years building himself a unique underground home. The 62-year-old Costa Rican did it all by hand, using only picks and shovels for tools. He now uses the large tunnel as a residence and a museum, welcoming tourists and teaching children about archeology and geography.

The underground dwelling is located in Perez Zeledon, a canton of San José Province in Costa Rica. Popularly known as 'Topolandia', the unique dwelling features over 400 square meters of tunnels. The walls and corridors of the caves are adorned with a variety of hand-carved sculptures of turtles, dinosaurs and even TV characters like the Flintstones. The largest tunnel inside the house is at least 16 meters deep, with a comfortable lounge to welcome visitors.

Topolandia

Comments system

Disqus Shortname